Holmgren not among GM award finalists
Daily News Flyers blog
Holmgren not among GM award finalists
The finalists for the NHL Executive of the Year have been announced, and the Flyers' Paul Holmgren is not on the list.
Holmgren made bold moves last offseason in trading away building blocks Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, and then addressed the goaltending situation with a $51 million contract for Ilya Bryzgalov.
The finalists are Doug Armstrong (St. Louis), David Poile (Nashville) and Dale Tallon (Florida). All had teams with low payrolls and exceeding expectations.
TSN's Bob McKenzie, among the voters, tweeted that he has Holmgren on his three-man ballot. "Doug Armstrong, David Poile and Dale Tallon nominees for NHL Exec of Year, all worthy, but I had PHI's Paul Holmgren on my three-man ballot. Didn't like Bryzgalov contract but to blow up core of team on fly - Richards-Carter trade - and not miss a beat, plus fill Pronger void. Trouble with exec voting this year, TOO many good options. Armstrong, Poile, Tallon, Holmgren. Don Maloney did great work, Bryan Murray too."
Armstrong's biggest move was firing coach Davis Payne just 13 games into the season and replacing him with former Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock. The Blues would go on to win won the Central Division for the first time since 1999-2000.
Poile, who has been a finalist before, locked in key players in the offseason and then made some big moves at the trade deadline to fill in holes. The Predators won 48 games.
Tallon added 10 new players in the offseason in a massive overhaul. He also hired first-time coach Kevin Dineen. The Panthers won their division for the first time in franchise history and made the playoffs for the first time in 12 years
The winner will be announced at the NHL Awards Shows on June 20 in Las Vegas.
If there's a parade down Broad Street in June do you think Paul Holmgren is going to care who won this year's "GM of the Year" vote? Do you think any of the Flyers' rookies will care who won "Rookie of the Year?"— Al Wilson- @Sidewinder, agreed. This is a joke. Once again the Flyers get shafted, or maybe it's just a case of letting some of the small guys win something for a change? In any event, to make the moves he made...to have the stones to do what he did with Richards and Carter and 9 rokies in/out of the lineup, with drafting Coots when he slid all the way down the board to #7 when the othere guys all passed, to losing Pronger so early in the season and making dealine deals for Grossman/Kubina.......how is he NOT Exec of the Year? You can bet the players will use this as additonal motivation for the organization's benefit. Those guys all have Holmgren to thank for a job and their contracts. They will play to prove the league wrong....again. Not even in the top 3? Come 'on......— Mark1npt
- Anti-Flyers bias is alive and well in the NHL office. Last week it was Matt Read being screwed over, this week Paul Holmgren.— BobbyD
- He's done a good job, but I wouldn't exactly call his absence here a travesty. Shipping out Carter and Richards was bold and creative, but the Bryzgalov contract was absolutely atrocious, and will handcuff this team for quite a while.— The Edifier
- Why is everyone so surprised? Philly has been the target of NHL hatred for years. No one seems to be able to forget the Broad Street Bullies. That has been gone for years, but we can't live it down. This is just more proof that it still reigns. Questionable calls at pivitol points in a game, any awards given for exceptional play and/or management or even just great play, we always get the shaft.— Ed-fan since1973
- First Read gets inexplicably left off the RoY voting, and now this? What a joke --- the only remedy for these idiotic snubs is to bring home the only hardware that truly matters - hope you're listening Lord Stanley.— CTL
- This snub surprised me too. And the selections are usually made by the Professional Hockey Writers Assoc. (or something like that). Our rookie, who leads in goals, gets snubbed. Now the GM of the Year excludes Holmgren, who made some bold moves. I wouldn't exactly call the Bryz trade bad--everyone wants someone to just jump to a new team and perform like a superstar. They have to adjust to a new system, new players, etc--Bryz looked really solid on Sunday and I think he got his confidence back to excel in round two. All awards aside, the best one will be the ring on everyone's finger if they win the Cup. Everything else is just puff.— ena1977
- YGBFSM!! Flyers jilted again...just win the cup the next three years--that'll be reward enough!— IdahoMoose
- Flyers are never a popular pick for individual Awards. That being said, Holmgren should have at least made the Final List. So just have your Young Guns win the Cup Paul and then tell the NHL Brass to stick their Exec Award where the Sun don't shine! Welcome to Philly, Lord Stanley!— younged
- really unimportant -- teams that get lots of individual honors never seem to get team accompishments that year and vice versa - hopefully it's a good sign - and frankly hard to deny any of the finalists for g.m. or for rookie -- and the signing of Bryz was probably the worst signing of the year so Holmgren may lose just for that.. the most important individual honor inhockey is Conn Smythe because it usually means your team won the Cup (thpugh Flyers have been so cursed that they managed to win 2 Conn Smythes in years wihtout winning the Cup (Reggie Leach 1976, Ron Hextall 1987)... nobody ever remembers or cares about the rest— warbiscuit
- Did some research - GM of the Year is voted on by a 40-member panel that includes all 30 general managers, five NHL executives and five media members. The Calder is voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.— CTL
- I'm a Holmgren fan, but come on. If the Flyers additions hadn't played as well as they have, and if Carter and Richards had big years, most of you would be calling for Holmgren's head right now, and you know it.— Claire Voyant
- Not even sure what this means? The point is, the additions DID play well and Carter and Richards not so much. To have the foresight to make the moves he did, and for them to pan out, warrants consideration. Alternate scenarios are nothing more than hypothetical
- “The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.”
JFK
Foresight- Richie/Carts traded for Schenn/Simmers/Voracek
Insight - G becoming an emotional and skilled leader
Hindsight-Paul Holmgrens 37 years of experience as player, coach, and gm
With the advantage of 37 years of hindsight, Holmgren had insight that G along with the foresight of a young nucleus would break through in 2012.
Worthy of a nomination of GM of the year...I think so.
— Jiggs700 - EXACTLY, stikolaboloni! Of course he would be second guessed if Schenn, Coutourier and Simmonds had not performed well. But that's the point, Einstein, those players that Holmgren traded for and/or drafted, as part of the Richards and Carter trades DID perform extremely well! Way better than Carter and Richards. Claire - Seriously dude(?), try to get a grip, man.... — 5NOT4
